Cities of tomorrow will need strong public transportation systems to foster growth

Demographic trends suggest that thriving cities of the future will need strong public transit systems to attract residents.

People under 30 “are far more likely to ride public transportation and to express positive feelings about it than older people, regardless of what part of the country they live in or what kind of neighborhood they grew up in,” CityLab.com reports, based on an ambitious survey from the nonprofit TransitCenter.

In 2013, “transit ridership in the United States hit a 50-year high, with the nation’s transit systems logging 10.7 billion rides,” according to the story.

The survey, which gathered data from 11,842 respondents in 46 metropolitan areas, including Cleveland, found that public transit riders “are disproportionately young, members of ethnic minorities, and—most important of all—they live in relatively dense neighborhoods where high-quality transit is available.”

TransitCenter broke the metro areas into those it defined as “transit progressive” (including Cleveland, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis and Seattle) and “transit deficient” (Dallas, Detroit and Tampa, among others).

The most important factor for riders in choosing transit is travel time and reliability, not fancier amenities such as wi-fi, CityLab.com notes.

TransitCenter found that across all income brackets, parents under 30 used transit significantly more than those between 30 and 60. “Forty-five percent of the under-30 parent group with incomes above $75,000 said they use transit weekly, compared with 16 percent of parents between 30 and 60 in the same income bracket,” CityLab.com notes.

In the words of the TransitCenter researchers, "The Millennial generation seems to be defying its sheltered, suburban upbringing by delaying the acquisition of a driver’s license and choosing transit."

Among the survey’s other findings:

There is high demand for quality public transportation nationwide, but such infrastructure “is often missing in the places where people currently live.

There also is high, unmet demand for neighborhoods with a mix of housing, retail, and commercial space, as 58% of survey respondents said their ideal neighborhood contained “a mix of houses, shops, and businesses,” but only 39% currently live in that type of neighborhood.

Wealthy Americans want to ride public transportation, too: In transit-rich “traditional cities” like Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., people with a $150,000 or greater salary are just as likely to ride public transportation as people with a $30,000 salary.

TransitCenter says the survey will be updated and conducted regularly to track changes in transit rider attitudes and regional trends over time.

Quite a ride

An arbitration panel that reinstated former Cedar Fair chief operating officer Jacob Falfas to his job “exceeded its authority, given the terms of the executive’s employment contract,” the Ohio Supreme Court has held, according to this story from CourtNewsOhio.gov.

In a unanimous ruling, Justice William M. O’Neill wrote that “specific performance” in the form of reinstatement “is not an available remedy for the breach of an employment contract unless the contract itself or an applicable state law clearly provides for such a result,” the website reports. (The website is a service of the Office of Public Information of the state Supreme Court.)

The story notes that the decision “reverses the judgment of the appeals court and also returns the case to the common pleas court to decide what pay and benefits are due to the former executive based on the contract.”

The case stems, essentially, from a misunderstanding. From the story:

In 2005, Jacob Falfas was named chief operating officer of Cedar Fair, which owns and manages amusement parks including Cedar Point in Sandusky. Falfas had a written employment agreement, and he reported to Richard Kinzel, who was then Cedar Fair’s chief executive officer, president, and board chair.

One of Falfas’s responsibilities included purchasing and negotiating contracts for the shows at the parks. Kinzel was dissatisfied with one show’s contract and budget, leading to a 94-second phone call between the executives on June 10, 2010. Following the call, Falfas thought he had been fired, while Kinzel believed Falfas had resigned.

The dispute went to arbitration. The arbitration panel determined that Falfas had been fired without cause. Though it was eight months after Falfas’s employment ended, the panel ordered Cedar Fair to reinstate Falfas to his former job.”

This and that

“During the financial crisis, regional bank KeyCorp took $2.5 billion in bailout money,” the magazine says. “Mooney, the first female CEO of a top 20 bank, cut units such as student loans and refocused on basics. Now she has repaid Uncle Sam and put KeyCorp back in the black.”

Topping the list is Ginni Rometty, the chairman, president and CEO of IBM. No. 2 in the ranking is Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors.

Doerr, who now lives in Idaho, made the 10-book longlist for ”All the Light We Cannot See,” which is about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.